SOUTHBORUGH – In a defensive battle down to the final minutes, it should not be surprising that special teams play was the difference.

Middlesex (4-1; 4-0) went on the road and shocked St. Mark’s (3-2; 3-1) in a 24-14 victory with two touchdowns in the final seven minutes of play to take sole possession of first place in the ISL-9 League.

After trailing most of the game, Middlesex forced a safety on a low snap punt attempt from the Zebras’ end zone. On the next series, Phoenix Whitaker picked off Luke Felago in the end zone to help St. Mark’s hold on to the slim 14-7 lead with 10:51 left in the game.

But it was Josh Richards, an offensive and defensive lineman playing both ways for Middlesex head coach Scott Woodward, who came up with the play of the game with a blocked punt on the next St. Mark’s possession, which gave the Zebras the ball on the Lions’ 18-yard line with 7:38 left to play.

“Every week we preach that special teams are going to make or break a game. It hadn’t worked yet this season, but I said keep trying and we are going to get one. Finally, we got one and it was just how we drew it up,” said Woodward, in his first year with the Zebras. “These guys have not played in a game of this magnitude in a really long time, and it worked out for us.”

Richards’ punt block set up Xavier Hazard, who finished the day with eight catches for 83 yards, for his second touchdown grab of the game on a fourth-and-four from the 12-yard line after breaking a tackle and Middlesex had the lead – 17-14 after a successful Frankie Forrest 2-pt conversion run with 4:51 left to play.

Hazard’s second touchdown reception gave the Zebras the lead for the first time since Hazard pulled down a 19-yard touchdown at the 5:22 mark of the first quarter.

“In my opinion blocked punt is the biggest play in all of football. Especially blocking it that far down and they are sitting inside (the red zone), and taking a safety down there, we go down low to field it, sometimes you get away with that but the blocked punt basically in your own end zone is tough right there,” said St. Mark’s head coach, Ken Goodwin. “It’s been our theme all year and teams just haven’t taken advantage of it but it’s us just killing ourselves and it’s the small little details and a really good Middlesex team is going to take advantage. But that’s the type of football we want to be playing.”

Early on, it seemed the big play would put St. Mark’s atop the standings as C.J. Farrell went 46 yards on a pass from Henry Colon to tie things up 7-7 with 1:59 left in the first quarter.

After a 12-play drive that ate up most of the second quarter that forced Middlesex into a turnover on downs, Chevy Shakespeare took a sweep right 69 yards untouched on the first play from scrimmage down the right sideline for the 14-7 lead with only 2:10 left in the first half.

But Woodward rallied the squad at halftime and spoke of shutting things down defensively in the final two quarters and relied heavy on his offensive line.

“I challenged them at halftime to leave a second half shutout and we have to score a couple of times to get this lead,” said Woodward. “In the end, the offensive line played their hearts out and they know this but from the moment I got this job I told them we were going to rely on the offensive line each and every game and each and every week.”

Forrest (27 carries, 81 yards, TD) put the icing on the cake with a 17-yard touchdown run with 10 seconds left in regulation.